Short ride outside Center Parcs Woburn Forest
While at Center Parcs Woburn Forest in Easter 2026, I was keen to get off-site and explore the local area on bike. Prior to going, I spent some time looking for information about routes nearby and came across the Cranfield Cycling blog, which became a useful guide.
With a bit of time to spare on afternoon, I decided head out on a short ride, to get an idea of what the local area was like. This Center Parcs short ride looked like a good place to start, at just 11km and largely along off-road trails and quiet roads, though with a few busy roads to cross.
Watch the full-length video Short ride outside Center Parcs Woburn Forest
The ride started on Katherine’s Walk, which conveniently passes the entrance road to Center Parcs. This means you can start the route without needing to negotiate any busy A roads, which is a significant bonus if you’re riding as a family.
On Katherine’s Walk, just outside Center Parcs
Turning right onto Katherine’s Walk, the route initially follows the perimeter fence of Center Parcs, in amongst the trees. The path at this point is mostly smoothish gravel, with a few rougher sections where there’s tree roots. It was pretty dry during our trip, so I don’t know what it would be like in wet weather.
After following round the bottom of Center Parcs’ perimeter fence, the route then heads south between farmer’s fields, then turns onto Rectory Road. This then leads to the quiet village of Steppingley, which looked very pleasant.
Next to a farmer’s field on Katherine’s Walk
Passing through the village, the route continues next to more farmer’s fields, before coming out onto Flitwick Road. There was then a short ride on Flitwick Road, which was fairly busy, before turning off to ride through more fields.
Path next to a farmer’s field
At the bottom of the farmer’s fields, the route turns left through a wooded area with a gravel path. This led to Steppingley Road, a fairly busy road on the outskirts of Flitwick. At the time of riding, there were roadworks along here, making it a little more challenging.
On the path to Flitwick
Turning off onto Ryder Way, the route made its way through a new housing estate, with very generic looking houses. There was at least a decent looking kid’s play area in the centre of the estate.
Ryder Way Play Area
Exiting the estate onto Froghall Road, the route continued towards the railway bridge, before turning left onto a gravel path that runs parallel to the railway, heading towards Froghall Wood.
Path at the top of Froghall Wood
The path continued parallel to the railway, before turning left at the top of Froghall Wood, skirting the edge of the woods. It then led onto Fordfield Road, which was busy with fast traffic, though at least had a section of shared-use path I was able to use.
Crossing on Fordfield Road
Turning off Froghall Road, I continued onto a path leading back to Katherine’s Walk. This section had what looked like a newly laid Flexipave surface, which was really smooth.
Flexipave path
At the end of the Flexipave path, I was back on the path around Center Parcs. From there, it was a short ride back to the entrance for Center Parcs, where I made my way back onto site.
On Katherine’s Walk next to the Center Parcs perimeter fence
This was a pleasant little ride and a good taster for a much longer ride I’d end up doing to Bletchley. More on that in my next post.
